Just when the orioles and swallows of the Marquis of Zhenwu Mansion were gathering together happily, the Yuhuatai execution ground outside the south gate was filled with blood and gloom. The prisoners waiting to be executed were lined up in a row, with tall arrows stuck in their back collars.
A big slash was written on it in black letters. The prisoners all had disheveled hair, dirty faces, and were wearing Xin Huan's white underwear. Some were in a daze, and some were crying in pain.
Gao Yifei had been an official for many years, but he never expected that he would end up like this. His head was missing and the people reviled him, and his son's life was also at stake. It's a pity that Kaohsiung was beheaded at such a young age before he even got married.
The old Gao family has been extinct since then. Gao Yifei wanted to yell, but he didn't know who to scold. All the officials who were older than him and younger than him were all safe and sound. Only the father and son of the Gao family were pushed out.
Being on the guillotine made him very unbalanced, but when you think about it, it was natural. Who made him bite like a mad dog, making him look like a human being inside and outside? Even if his old colleagues from the Metropolitan Procuratorate wanted to help him, they were powerless.
In the end, the Gao family and his son were executed as the result of the game between the two parties and the victims of the political struggle. Gao Yifei knew this very well.
At the same time, some state and county officials in Huguang were also executed. They knelt next to Gao Yifei. They had nothing to say to each other. Anyway, they died together. They chatted on the road to Huangquan. Farther away were Ma Yun and Chen Ziang.
After all, the young man had not experienced anything serious. He was paralyzed with fear. His messy hair covered his face, and his pale face could be vaguely seen.
When they were parading in the streets just now, the people of the capital had greeted them with rotten eggs and rotten cabbage. The deafening shouts and the attacks of filth that covered their heads and faces were beyond what ordinary people could bear. It was reasonable for them to faint.
Gao Yifei withdrew his gaze and stared blankly ahead. He heard the roar of applause from the surrounding people. He knew that the beheading had begun.
One by one, it was Gao Yifei's turn. In order to show humanistic care and avoid the tragic scene of the white-haired man sending the black-haired man away, the execution officer ranked Gao Yifei in front of Kaohsiung. The two men were wearing bright red.
The executioner in the robe pulled out the command arrow from Gao Yifei's neck and threw it in front of him. He took a casual look and shouted: "I have been identified. The prisoner Gao Yifei, male, fifty-two years old, is sentenced to execution."
A command arrow was thrown down from the execution platform, and a voice seemed to come from the clouds: "Execution!"
Gao Yifei only felt a gentle but rough hand wiping his neck, and then he felt that he had turned into a flying bird. The whole world began to spin and kept spinning. For a moment, he saw the dense surroundings.
The people, the corpses on the ground, the platform where the executioner sat, the executioner's red robe and the ghost-headed sword were all completed in an instant. In the end, what Gao Yifei saw was his headless body and
His son Kaohsiung's eyes were filled with despair. He knew that what his son was looking at was his own head. He opened his mouth to tell his son not to be afraid, it didn't hurt at all, but he couldn't speak at all.
Gao Yifei's colleagues in the Metropolitan Procuratorate had told the Criminal Department that they must give them a good time, so this knife was very quick and painless. Other prisoners were not so cheap, and some of them were not given to the executioner.
The person who gave the gift chopped off the head with two or three cuts. It was more like cutting off the head than cutting it off. Of course, in this way, the executioner would not get the applause of the onlookers.
It's a pity that the father and son of the Gao family went to Huangquan Road together and failed to see the scene behind them. The beheading of Ma Yun and Chen Zi'ang was carried out carelessly. The so-called verification of identity was just a casual look and then hurried beheading. During the beheading, two assistants supported the limp body.
The executioner killed the body with one knife, without showing the head to the public. The body was rolled up in a straw mat and family members came to collect it.
Nowadays, beheadings are all about humaneness. They no longer put the heads in cages at the city gate for public display and wait until they stink before burying them. Instead, after beheading, the heads are distributed to the relatives of the prisoners, who then find people at the funeral parlor to kill them.
The heads were sewn onto the corpses and buried. The people executed today were all officials. Although their family properties were confiscated, there were still some uncles and brothers. They had already prepared the coffins. When the people from the Ministry of Punishment left, they would sew up the bodies and bury them secretly.
In the mass graves nearby, those who were executed were not allowed to enter their ancestors' graves. This was also the rule.
Today's beheading performance was over, and the people were still in high spirits. They talked about the highlights and went back to the city. No one noticed that there were several people saying goodbye far away from the execution place.
"Zi'ang, from now on you will be who you were before. I hope you can change your appearance and never appear in this world again." Tang Jingxiao's voice was full of tiredness and pain.
In front of Tang Jingxiao was a carriage, in which sat a gentle-looking woman. However, her energy and blood were a little weak, and her face was very pale. No one would associate this woman with Chen Ziang, who had just been executed. She
(He) covered his mouth with a handkerchief, coughed twice and said, "Jing Xiao, thank you for your life-saving grace. I can't repay you in this life. I can only hope to reconnect with you in the next life."
Tang Jingxiao smiled bitterly: "You saved my life in the first place, just retaliation for retaliation. Just go, as far as possible. Don't let the people from the South Factory catch you."
The two held hands together again. This might be the last time. They had nothing to say to each other. Years of ups and downs flashed through their minds, but it ended sadly. Seeing that they were unwilling to let go for a long time, they stayed by their side.
The sitting Liu Rushi sighed softly, and asked the coachman to wave his whip. The carriage moved forward slowly, and his hands helplessly changed from clasping to interlocking fingers, and then to two fingers interlocking again.
Finally they separated. Chen Ziang had tears in his eyes and waved as he watched the figures gradually getting further away. He stopped waving sadly until he turned the corner of the mountain. He sat blankly in the bumpy carriage and thought to himself: Siam
What exactly would this place be like?
At the same time, on the bank of the Yangtze River, several men were discussing the shipping rates with the captain of a black shed passenger ship.
"It's just one person, and he doesn't have much luggage. Two hundred dollars is a lot of money. He can also help you with work and other things. If it works for you, then get on the ship. If it doesn't work, just find another one."
The boatman held his chin and looked at the boy in front of him who was about to take the boat to Hangzhou. His face was pockmarked and timid. He looked like a country bumpkin who had never been out of the house. He thought to himself that Quan should do good deeds and accumulate virtue, so he said: "Okay, just
Think of it as making some money for drinks, come up, but first say, I don't care about the food."
"Okay, okay, that's it. Ergouzi, hurry up and get on the boat. Don't forget to send a message back to your third uncle when you get there."
Ma Yun, whose face was pockmarked by the hot oil, shrank his head and got on the boat, and immediately squatted on the stern of the boat, not daring to move. Although he was extremely wealthy, he never developed that noble and elegant temperament. Instead, he was extremely wretched. This only increased his
With a bit of cover, no matter how hard the people on the ship tried, they couldn't guess that the inconspicuous little pock in front of them was actually the famous prodigy and wealthy businessman Jack Ma.
Ma Yun relied on his huge wealth to buy a life. One million taels of silver bought a life. No one can resist this temptation. Even if the anti-corruption trend is still blowing, a few guys from the Ministry of Punishment are looking for him.
A scapegoat who was as despicable as Ma Yun, got drunk and was dragged to the execution ground and killed. From then on, Ma Yun was no longer in the world. Unless there was a change of government, he could not come out again. Now he can only sneak back to his hometown in Zhejiang to live in seclusion.
In comparison, Chen Ziang's case was much less risky, because it was a matter secretly assigned by Qian Ge Lao and Qi Shangshu, and Qi Zhenming's confidant personally handled it. Although the two criminals were cheating, they did not know each other. Qian Qian
Yi originally didn't want to save Chen Zi'ang, but he couldn't bear Tang Tang's crying all night, and he was afraid that he would end up crying, so he finally took action. Alas, it's so sad for a hero to be a beauty. Thinking of this, Qian Qianyi felt depressed. He secretly swore,
Never do such a violation of principles again in the future.
Cheng Liangjue's funeral was held the next day. This time, it was the real Cheng Liangjue. No one risked the crime of deceiving the emperor to escape punishment for a rebel convict. After the last time the funeral was over 9,000 years old and golden, the people in the capital had not seen it for a long time.
It was such a good show. Thousands of people gathered around the execution site to watch, and there were even many spectators who came all the way from Shanghai. The master of the execution was the famous Xiaodao Liu, but the old man had already retired.
, this time it was only for the sake of Marquis Zhenwu that he came out again and scraped a living person again.
With the completion of Cheng Liangjue's 3,600 blows, this vigorous anti-corruption storm finally came to an end. The capital also bid farewell to the bloody storm and ushered in the canonization ceremony of the Empress Dowager, which was congratulated by all the people.